Opposable Thumbs —

Microsoft brings “Xbox Live” to Windows gaming

Microsoft today announced the forthcoming arrival of its Live gaming service …

Microsoft today announced the forthcoming arrival of its LIVE gaming service on the Windows platform. The Redmond giant will formally take the wraps off the newly extended service on May 8 alongside the "launch" of Halo 2 on Windows Vista. Halo 2 has been in release for quite some time, but Microsoft is looking to spin the two in a whirlwind of promotion.

With Xbox Live, console gaming had its first for-pay system with a unified friends list, an easy way to set up games with multiple people, and voice chat supported on every title. It was a great way to play online, and now in its current iteration Live may rival the online support of many PC games. With Microsoft pushing their Games for Windows initiative, it was only a matter of time before their Live service came to PCs. Now that we have the information about what Microsoft will offer PC gamers, is it worth the money to sign up?

There are two levels to the service: Silver membership is free and offers a gamertag, your profile and gamerscore, private voice and text chat, a friend list, and multiplayer. $50 a year gets you a Gold membership which offers everything from the Silver while adding multiplayer TrueSkill matchmaking, achievements available through multiplayer, and cross-platform gameplay between the 360 and PCs. In short, it's just like Xbox Live's 360 iteration.

Furthermore, current Xbox Live subscribers won't have to pay for another account on the PC, meaning 360 owners who have an Xbox Live Gold account will get Live on their PC for no additional cost. For many console gamers this may feel like a free service, and this certainly gives the $50 yearly price tag for the Gold Live Account more value.

"The benefits of expanding Xbox LIVE to Games for Windows titles is twofold: "We’re bringing together two communities that share a passion for playing online games, and we’re enhancing the online experience for PC gamers who have long desired seamless game and voice connectivity — it’s a win for everyone," said Peter Moore, corporate VP of Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft.

Will the crossover be a success? Achievement points merely add to your gamerscore, which has no meaning outside of Xbox Live other than bragging rights. It's also hard to say how many people are willing to pay for the ability to play games on their PC against people on 360 consoles; since the friends list and voice chat are free with a silver membership, it seems most of the value is being given away. The first series of games to take advantage of these features are also underwhelming: Halo 2 for Vista, Shadowrun, and UNO. These aren't titles that will get gamers rushing to the store.

PC gaming has a wide range of products and services that already handle much of what Live would provide, and most of them are free and already have strong communities behind them. Microsoft will have a hard time convincing PC gamers that they are offering something that is worth paying for by the year if it doesn't offer services they can't get elsewhere for less money, or support many more triple-A titles. Existing Gold Subscribers may enjoy their PC accounts, but the appeal of cross-platform play may be less enticing than what Microsoft had hoped.